Israeli authorities have allowed shoes and clothes into the Gaza Strip for the first time in three years, but Gazan businessmen say much of the shipment is ruined.
Ten containers were allowed into Gaza on Sunday and a further 10 on Tuesday, of goods that have sat in storage for three years, but many were too spoiled to sell.
Israel has imposed tight restrictions on the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza since pulling out in mid-2005. These worsened after Hamas won Palestinian elections in early 2006 and then became a full blockade a year later, after Hamas seized full control of Gaza.
Nearly all exports and imports are banned and only a limited supply of food and medical aid is allowed in.
The result has been the collapse of private industry in the Palestinian territory and the creation of a Hamas-regulated smuggling economy through tunnels into Egypt.
The Israeli government says its economic blockade of Gaza will remain in place until Hamas halts violence, recognizes Israel and accepts previous peace agreements. Egypt also keeps its one crossing into Gaza largely closed and has started building a steel, underground wall to curb smuggling.
When Hamza Abu Helal, who has run a trading business in Gaza City for 37 years, finally received his long overdue delivery and started going through the yellow boxes of 13,000 men’s shirts — marked “Al Helal, Italy Style” — he found about 80 percent of the garments ruined by damp.
Worse still, he bought another six containers full of clothes last year after an international donor’s conference at which billions of dollars were pledged to the Palestinians following Israel’s war in Gaza.
“They promised this money will come to Gaza and I believed the crossings would open and would allow us to make up our losses ... But nothing came in at all” said Abu Helal.
Abdullah Huwaiti, another trader, received two small containers of shoes.
They were not as badly damaged as his neighbor’s shirts, but he estimated he will make back just a quarter of his costs.
“The economy here is destroyed ... What is the fault of us businessmen? We’re not involved in politics. It’s the fault of the politicians, not us,” he said.
It will take at least three months to clear just the three-year backlog of shoes and clothes, Palestinian economics ministry official Raed Fattouh.
Despite the slight easing of the blockade, shipments into Gaza are still a long way short of the 400 trucks a day that were envisaged under a key agreement between Israel and the Palestinians brokered by the US in late 2005. Meanwhile shops in Gaza are filled with more expensive and lower quality goods smuggled in from Egypt.
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